Method of connecting slide fasteners to fly strips for trousers or the like

ABSTRACT

A METHOD FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY CONNECTING TWO CONTINUOUS SLIDE FASTENER STRINGERS TO FACES OF PAIRS OF FLY STRIPS FOR TROUSERS OR THE LIKE WHICH IN THE FINISHED TROUSER FACE EACH OTHER. PAIRS OF FLY STRIPS ARE FED IN SUCCESSION IN LONGITUDINAL DIRECTION WITH THEIR AFOREMENTIONED FACES FACING UPWARDLY AND WITH THE FLY STRIPS IN EACH PAIR ARRANGED LATERALLY SPACED FROM AND MIRROR SYMMETRICALLY WITH RESPECT TO EACH OTHER TOWARD A PAIR OF SPACED SYNCHRONOUSLY DRIVEN SEWING MACHINES. A CONTINUOUS SLIDE FASTENER CHAIN IS SIMULTANEOUSLY FED TOWARD THE SEWING MACHINES. BEFORE THE CHAIN REACHES THE MACHINES THE TWO STRINGERS OF THE CHAIN ARE SEPARATED AND ONE OF THE STRINGES IS REVERSED THROUGH 180* RELATIVE TO ITS LONGITUDINAL DIRECTION WITH RESPECT TO THE OTHER OF THE STRINGERS BEFORE BEING BROUGHT IN ENGAGEMENT WITH RESPECTIVE FLY STRIP. THE TWO STRINGERS ARE THEN IN THE THUS OBTAINED POSITIONS SEWN TO THE FLY STRIPS AS FLY STRIPS AND STRINGERS PASS THROUGH THE TWO SEWING MACHINES.

Feb. 27, 1973 F. GLINDMEYER 3,718,105

METHOD OF CONNECTING SLIDE FASTENERS TO FLY STRIPS FOR TROUSERS OR THE LIKE Filed March 16, 1972 United States Patent 3,718,105 METHOD OF CONNECTING SLIDE FASTENERS TO FLY STRIPS FOR TROUSERS OR THE LIKE Friedrich Glindmeyer, Eilendorf, Germany, assignor to William Prym-Werke KG, Stolberg, Rhineland, Ger- Filed Mar. 16, 1972, Ser. No. 235,300 Claims priority, application Germany, Mar. 26, 1971, P 21 81 522.6 Int. Cl. Db 3/12 US. Cl. 112-265 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A method for simultaneously connecting two continuous slide fastener stringers to faces of pairs of fly strips for trousers or the like which in the finished trouser face each other. Pairs of fly strips are fed in succession in longitudinal direction with their aforementioned faces facing upwardly and with the fly strips in each pair arranged laterally spaced from and mirror symmetrically with respect to each other toward a pair of spaced synchronously driven sewing machines. A continuous slide fastener chain is simultaneously fed toward the sewing machines. Before the chain reaches the machines the two stringers f the chain are separated and one of the stringers is reversed through 180 relative to its longitudinal direction with respect to the other of the stringers before being brought in engagement with respective fly strip. The two stringers are then in the thus obtained positions sewn to the fly strips as fly strips and stringers pass through the two sewing machines.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Slide fasteners for closing the fly of a trouser are, during the manufacture of trousers, first connected to socalled fly strips and the latter then sewn with the slide fastener connected thereto onto the corresponding trouser parts. Such fly strips for trousers are manufactured from the same material as the trouser itself and the narrow strips have an upper edge which extends normal to th longitudinal direction of the strip whereas the opposite end is curved. The fly strips are formed from fabric ma- 'terial which has, as each fabric material a front side and a reverse side, and it is required that in the finished and closed trouser the upper, that is the left fly strip faces with its so-called front side the front side of the lower, that is the right fly strip.

In the mass fabrication of trousers it is preferred, in order to reduce the manufacturing cost thereof to connect slide fastener halves with pairs of fly strips for a respective trouser simultaneously in a special operation so that the thus premanufactured parts can then be sewn into the trouser during finishing thereof.

In such an operation, pairs of fly strips are connected to the two slide fastener halves which are taken from a supply of two continuous and engaged slide fastener stringers, i.e., a continuous slide fastener chain.

During connection of such coupled slide fastener stringers to slits of dresses, shirts, blouses or the like, this simultaneous connection of the coupled slide fastener stringers to edge portions of the slit of such garment does not cause any particular problem in that it is possible to simultaneously sew the two edges as well as the two stringers of the coupled slide fastener with a two needle sewing machine to each other. This method is however not possible during connection of slide fasteners to fly strips, because with fly strips it is necessary that in the closed trouser the so-called front side of one fly strip has to be directed against the front side of the other fly strip and that it is therefore not possible as in the above-mentioned method to arrange the fly strips in such a manner with respect to each other that the longitudinal edges thereof in the closed position of the garment are arranged side by side with the front sides thereof facing in the same direction.

It has already been suggested to solve the above-mentioned problem by feeding a continuous slide fastener chain with the coupling elements on the two stringers in engaged position and pairs of fly strips in the require relative position to each other to a two needle machine. This known suggestion makes it however necessary to provide the two needle machine with fabric deflectors which deflect portions of each fly strip in such a manner that the lateral portion of each fly strip is deflected out of the path of reciprocation of the needle of the two needle machine which sews the other fly strip to the respective slide fastener half. This necessary deflection of lateral portions of each fly strip not only slows down the sewing operation, but also requires considerable additional means on the sewing machine for performing the abovementioned deflection. Special difliculties are encountered with this method if, in order to obtain a perfect connection of the slide fastener to the fly strip, the distance of the connecting seam from the row of coupling elements carried by the respective slide fastener stringer is to be held very small. It has therefore already been suggested to separate the two slide fastener halves from each other by disengaging the coupling elements thereof before the slide fastener enters into the two needle sewing machine whereby it is possible to enlarge the distance between the two seams in such a manner, that the fabric deflectors can be arranged in a manner to function properly and without difliculties.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide for a method of connecting slide fasteners to pairs of fly strips for trousers in a simple and eflicient manner.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide for such a method which does not require fabric deflector means on the sewing machine which sews the slide fastener stringers to the trousers.

With these objects in view, the method according to the present invention for simultaneously connecting a pair of continuous slide fastener stringers to fly strips of trousers or similar garments mainly comprises the steps of feeding consecutive pairs of fly strips in longitudinal direction with the strips in each pair arranged transversely spaced from and mirror symmetrically arranged with respect to each other and with the faces of the strips, which in the finished trouser face each other, facing upwardly, to a pair of transversely spaced and synchronously driven stitch forming means, taking a continuous slide fastener chain with the coupling elements on the two stringers thereof engaged with each other from a supply of such a continuous slide fastener chain, disengaging the coupling elements so as to separate the two stringers of the slide fastener chain from each other and reversing one of the stringers through so that that edge of one stringer which carries the coupling elements faces the edge of the other stringer which is free of coupling elements and feeding the two stringers in the thus obtained position into engagement with the aforementioned faces of the fly strips and subsequently thereto sewing the stringers and the fly strips in the thus engaged position to each other. After the slide fastener stringers are thus connected to the fly strips, the latter are brought into their correct relative position to each other in which the so-called front sides of the strips face each other which also brings the rows of coupling elements on the two stringers into proper operating condition with respect to each other.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 illustrates the fly in a pair of trousers in open condition with the fly strips and the slide fastener stringers attached thereto;

FIG. 2 illustrates in schematic manner a cross section through a pair of fly strips with the slide fastener stringers attached thereto, whereby fly strips and stringers are shown for reason of clarity spaced from each other;

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates the position of the fly strips and the slide fastener stringers during attachment thereof to each other according to the prior art; and

FIG. 4 illustrates schematically the position of the fly strips and the slide fastener stringers during attachment thereof in accordance with the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE. PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 schematically illustrates the fly in a pair of trousers with the fly strips and the slide fasteners connected thereto in open condition, whereas FIG. 2 schematically illustrates in cross section the relative position of the slide fastener and the two fly strips at which these elements are arranged when connected to the trouser material at the fly.

As mentioned before, each fabric material has a front side and a reverse side and the front sides or front faces of the fabric material from which the fly strips 4 and 5 are formed have to be arranged in such a manner that in the finished trouser the front side's of the two fly strips face each other. To indicate the front side of the material from which the fly strips 4 and 5 are formed, these front sides are indicated in FIGS. 2-4 by closely spaced hatch lines. The closed slide fastener comprising the two stringer tapes with the coupling element 3 thereon has to be arranged between the upper fly strip 5 at the left side of the trouser and the lower fly strip 4 at the right side of the trouser whereby the front sides of the two fly strips have to face each other. The slide fastener half 1 is usually connected to the upper fly strip 5 by a two thread seam 8 which is passed through the fly strip 5 at a certain distance from the right edge thereof, as viewed in FIG. 2 and the upper fly strip 5 is covered with an outer fabric layer, not shown in FIG. 2, which is sewn to the fly strip 5 in such a manner that the lateral portion thereof projects toward the right beyond the seam 8 in such a manner to cover the slide fastener 1, 2. The other slide fastener half 2 is usually connected to the corresponding fly strip 4 with a single thread seam 9. The outer fabric layer is connected to the fly strip 4 in the region of the seam 9, as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates the manner in which a fastener is connected to a pair of two fly strips according to the prior art. According to the prior art method, the slide fastener 1, 2 is fed through the sewing machine in coupled condition, that is the coupling elements 3 on the two slide fastener stringers 1 and 2 are engaged with each other and the upper fly strip 5 is superimposed on the slide fastener whereas the latter is superimposed on the lower fly strip 4 substantially as shown in FIG. 2, however, before the thus superimposed elements reach the sewing machine, the right lateral portion of the upper strip is upwardly bent as shown in FIG. 3, whereas the left portion of the lower fly strip 4 is bent downwardly as shown in this figure so that the needle of the sewing machine which produces the double thread seam 8 connecting the upper fly strip 5 to the stringer 1 of the slide fastener does not pass at the same time through the lower fly strip 4 and so that the needle which produces the single thread seam 9 passes only through the stringer 2 and the lower fly strip and not also through any portion of the upper fly strip 5. This necessary deflection of the two lateral portions of the fly strips 4 and 5 causes, as mentioned above, a necessary slowing down of the sewing operation and at the same time it requires also additional expensive and relatively complicated means on the sewing machine for performing these necessary deflections.

The method according to the present invention was developed in order to avoid the above-rnentioned disadvantages of the method according to the prior art as illustrated in FIG. 3.

The relative arrangement of the two fly strips 4 and 5 of the slide fastener halves 1 and 2 with the coupling element 3 thereon during sewing of the slide fastener halves to the respective fly strips in accordance with the method of the present invention is schematically illustrated in FIG. 4. As shown in this figure, the two fly strips 4 and 5 are arranged spaced from each other a sufficient distance so that the attachment seams 8 and 9 can be formed without mutual interference and the two fly strips 4 and 5 are fed in longitudinal direction and spaced from and mirror symmetrically arranged with respect to each other to a pair of correspondingly spaced and synchronizingly driven stitch forming means of a sewing machine or the like. The pair of fly strips are preferably fed toward the sewing machine with the curved ends leading, however, it is also possible to feed the fly strips with their straight edge ends, which form in the finished trouser construction the upper edges thereof, as the leading ends. It is also not necessary that, as shown in FIG. 4, the fly strip 4 which in the finished trouser construction forms the lower fly strip be arranged at the left side, as viewed in FIG. 4 and the fly strip 5 on the right side, but it is possible to reverse the position of the two fly strips from the position as shown in FIG. 4. Essentially, however, is that the front sides or faces of the fabrics forming the fly strips 4 and 5 face upwardly as shown in FIG. 4. The slide fasteners 1, 2 to be sewn to the two fly strips is taken from a supply, for instance a spool on which a continuous slide fastener chain is wound up with the coupling elements of the two stringers of the chain engaged with each other. During withdrawing of the slide fastener chain from the supply, the coupling elements on the two stringers 1 and 2 are disengaged so as to separate the two stringers 1 and 2 from each other and one of the stringers is reversed through relative to its longitudinal direction with regard to the other stringer so that the coupling element 3 on the stringer 1 will then face the edge of the stringer 2 which is free of the coupling elements as shown in FIG. 4. In the thus obtained position of the two slide fastener stringers 1 and 2 are brought into engagement with the front faces of the two fly strips 4 and 5 and then simultaneously sewn onto the latter. Preferably, as mentioned above, the stringer 1 is sewn to the fly strip 5 with the two thread seam 8, whereas the stringer 2 is sewn to the fly strip 4 with a single thread seam 9. It will be evident from FIG. 4 that after the slide fastener stringers 1 and 2 are connected to the respective fly strip, the fly strip 5 with the stringer 1 attached thereto may be simply flapped over to be brought into the position as shown in FIG. 2, Whereafter the coupling elements 3 on the two slide fastener stringers may be connected to each other.

The above-described method according to the present invention has the advantage over the method according to the prior art that complicated fabric deflector means which are difficult to operate are avoided. In order to simultaneously manufacture fly strip pairs with the fastener halves connected thereto it is, for instance, suflicient to provide two sewing machines which are arranged opposite each other and which are synchronously driven which permits in a very simple manner obtain the spacing between the two attaching seams.

In order to carry out the aforementioned method in a fully automated manner it is possible to arrange two stacks of fly strips upstream of the sewing device and to automatically feed the fly strips from the stacks seriatim to the respective needles of the sewing device, while the continuous slide fastener chain after being withdrawn from a supply spool passes a divider in which the two stringers of the chain are separated from each other, whereafter one of the thus separated stringers is passed through a reversing device, which essentially may consist of a simple through 180 twisted band guide before it passes into the sewing device. After the sewing operation is finished the attaching threads are cut from the ends of the slide fastener halves by cutting means usually provided on the sewing device, whereafter the finished fly strips with the slide fastener halves attached thereto are gathered in appropriate containers.

With regard to the above-mentioned relative position of the two fly strips during the sewing operation, it is mentioned that it is also possible to feed one of each pair of fly strips in such a manner to the sewing machine that the curved end thereof is the leading end if the coupling elements on each slide fastener stringer are arranged symmetrically with respect to the plane of the tape of the respective stringer.

It will be understood that each of the elements dedescribed above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of method for simultaneously connecting a pair of continuous slide fastener stringers to fly strips for trousers differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in method for simultaneously connecting a pair of continuous slide fastener stringers to fly strips for a trouser, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended Within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

1. A method for simultaneously connecting a pair of continuous slide fastener stringers to fly strips for trousers or similar garments comprising the steps of feeding consecutive pairs of fly strips in longitudinal direction with the strips in each pair arranged transversely spaced from and mirror symmetrically with respect to each other and with the faces of the strips, which in the finished trouser face each other, facing upwardly, to a pair of transversely spaced synchronously driven stitch forming means; withdrawing a continuous slide fastener chain with the coupling elements on the two stringers thereof engaged with each other from a supply of such a continuous slide fastener chain; disengaging said coupling elements so as to separate the two stringers of the chain from each other and reversing one of the stringers through so that that edge of one stringer Which carries the coupling elements faces the edge of the other stringer which is free from coupling elements and feeding the two stringers in the thus obtained position into engagement with said faces of said fly strips; and sewing the stringers and the fly strips in the thus engaged position to each other.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein each of the fly strips has one straight side edge and an opposite curved side edge, and wherein said pair of fly strips are fed to the stitch forming means with the straight edges facing each other.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said fly strips has one straight side edge and an opposite curved side edge, and wherein said pair of fly strips are fed to said stitch forming means with said curved edges facing each other.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein one of said stringers is sewn to the correspondingly fly strip with a two thread seam and the other with a one thread seam.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,077,847 2/1963 Morin 112-265 3,120,004 2/1964 McGehee 2234 3,263,238 8/1966 Waldes 2-265 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,953,870 5/1971 Germany 112-265 WERNER H. SCHROEDER, Primary Examiner US. Cl. XJR- 2-234, 265

- I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Dated February 27, 1973 Patent NO- 397 2 5 Inventoflg) Friedrich Glindmeyer It is certified that error appears in the aboveidentified patent and that said Letters Patent are-hereby corrected as shown below:

Colman 1, line 9 "P2]. 31 522.6 should read P 21 11 815.2

"* ay of I'Iaj 197M;

DU 1A Signed and sealed this 21 (SEAL) Attest: I

EDWARD I' LFIETGILEIQ-TR. C. I IARSHALL DANN Commissioner of Patents A'btesting Officer USCOMM-DC 6O37 6-P69 v.5. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 190 0-366-834,

F ORM PO-1050 (IO-69) 

